Cylinder liner and valve service design for high speed reciprocating compressors



Sept. 19, 1961 M. TOWER ErAL 3,000,553

CYLINDER LINE ND VALVE SERVICE DESIGN FOR HIGH SPEED RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS Filed June 16, 1958 HEN RY M. TOWER ANDREW J'. NICHOLAS INVENTORS ybluun I I v 4%;

all

Unite This invention relates generally to high speed reciprocating compressors and more particularly to means for mounting the cylinder liners and valve service relative the crankcase of such compressors.

The introduction of annular strip type valve service in high speed reciprocating compressors has produced -many forms of cylinder liner and valve service designs.

' The present invention provides an improved arrangement wherein the cylinder liner mounting and the lannular strip valve service elements coact to aflix the cylinder liner and the valve service to the upper bulkhead of the-crankcase with the cylinder appended to the valve service and guided relative the upper and lower bores in the respective upper and lower bulkheads of the. crank caseduring assembly.

This arrangement provides many advantages over the cylinder liner and valve service designs heretofore utilized in that it lowers the head of the compressor, saves weight, and simplifies the machine problems particularly in the construction and arrangement of multi-cylinder compressors wherein the cylinders are formed in paired units.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become evident from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view of a reciprocating compressor broken away to show two cylinders, one in side elevation partially in section, and the other in vertical section.

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the discharge valve plate service.

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view of a portion of the valve plate and discharge valve cage in vertical section and the related valve elements.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a fragment of a reciprocating compressor crankcase generally designated 1, which includes a plurality of cylinder banks generally designated 2, 2a, 2b, etc. While single cylinders are illustrated in the present form of the invention it is believed well known in the art that cylinders are also in multiple units per bank of cylinders.

The crank case includes an upper bulkhead 3 and a lower bulkhead 4 which form a suction manifold 5, the head 1a forming a discharge manifold as at 6 for the respective cylinder.

The cylinders are substantially identical except as to their radial position in the crankcase. For each cylinder an upper bore 7 and a lower bore 8 is formed in the respective upper and lower bulkheads. The bores are in alignment with each other and with an imaginary radial line perpendicular to the axial centerline 9 of the crankshaft 10.

In this arrangement the only dimension which must be held as will appear clear hereinafter is the dimension between the centerline of the shaft at 9 and the upper face of the upper bulkhead 3 as indicated by the radius line R. This is particularly significant in the case of multiple cylinders per bank because this dimension can be machined simultaneously for both cylinders.

Each cylinder includes a cylinder liner 1'1, a valve plate 12 and a discharge valve cage 13 assembled in the same order as shown in FIGURE 1. The valve plate 12 and discharge valve cage 13 as indicated in FIGURE 1 States Patent are wider than the upper bore 7 so that in assembled position the valve plate supports the cylinder liner and the discharge valve cage provides means for atfixing the three units to the upper bulkhead 3.

The cylinder liner 11 includes a cylindrical body por-.

tion 14' with a flange 15 about the upper end. The outer periphery of the flange 15 and the outer periphery of the body portion 14 have substantially the same diameter as the respective upper bore 7 and lower bore 8 so that dur-. ing assembly of the cylinder liner the flange and body.

The suction chamber communicates with the cylinder formed by the cylinder liner for the particular cylinder. The face of the valve plate remote from the suction valve chamber 17a is cut with a narrow annular groove 20 to provide a seat with the discharge valve strip stop 21 aflixed to the discharge valve cage 13 dis-,

posed to engage the face of the valve plate 12 remote from the face in engagement with the outer face of the flange 15, as shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings.

A plurality of circumferentially spaced suction valve ports 22 are formed in the flange 15 to provide communication between the suction manifold 5 and the suction valve chamber 18 and the ports are cut at their end adjacent to the suction valve chamber so as to provide a seat for the annular suction valve strip 22a which controls the flow of fluid from the suction manifold to the suction valve chamber which communicates with the cylinder formed by the cylinder liner 11, all of which is clearly shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawings.

The loading and unloading of the suction valve is controlled by a mechanism which includes the pins 23 and the unloading assembly generally designated 24 as is more fully described in my copending application Serial No. 741,254, filed June 11, 1958, now abandoned.

The discharge valve cage 13 is also a substantially flat plate-like element in cross-section having a rectangular shape in plan view. It fits snugly in engagement with valve plate 12 and is counterbored to form the discharge valve chamber 25 which communicates at one end through the opening in the valve plate 12 with the cylinder formed by the cylinder liner 11 and at the other end with discharge ports 26 and 27, respectively. An annular discharge valve strip 28 seats between the upper face of the valve plate 12 and the discharge valve strip stop 21 and controls the flow of compressed fluid from the cylinder to the discharge valve chamber before it passes via ports 26 and 27 to the discharge manifold 6.

In assembled position the valve plate 12 and cylinder liner 11 form an annular shoulder as at 30 which shoulder will engage the upper or outer face of the upper bulkhead 3 when the liner, the valve plate and discharge valve cage are assembled relative thereto.

In order to provide absolute alignment the respective cylinder liner 11, valve plate 12 and discharge valve cage 13 are aligned as by the doweled element 31 and the entire assembly is atlixed to the upper face of the upper bulkhead 3 of the crankcase by means of the threaded elements 32.

This design permits the bores formed in the respective upper and lower bulkheads to have a uniform diameter and acts to reduce the space requirements for the cylinder and valve service in the assembled position.

upper bulkhead in said' crankcase, the face of said upper bulkhead being spaced from the center line of said crankcase a predetermined radial distance, a lower bulkheadin said crankcase spaced from said upper bulkhead to form a suction manifold therebetween, said bulkheads each having at least one bore extending therethrough with, uniform diameters the length of the respective bores, said bore in the upper bulkhead being in alignment with the bore in the lower bulkhead and the aligned bores disposed parallel to a plane perpendicular to the center line of said shaft, said bore in the upper bulkhead being of larger diameter than the bore in said lower bulkhead, a cylinder liner having a flange formed about the upper end thereof, said, cylinder liner and said flange having a diameter on their outer peripheries such that in assembled. position the flange and cylinder liner will have a sliding, fit with the bore in the upper bulkhead and the bore in the lower bulkhead respectively, and support and valve means directly connected in assembled position to said upper bulkhead about the bore and to the upper face of said cylinder liner for supportably positioning the upper face of the flange in alignment with the upper face of the bulkhead to fix the cylinder liner relative the center line of the crankshaft in accordance with the predator mined spaced radial distance, said support and valve means being in communication with the suction manifold and the cylinder liner and arranged to control flow of fluid, to said cylinder liner.

2; In a reciprocating compressor as claimed in claim I wherein said support and valve means includes, a valve plate having a diameter larger than, the diameter; of, the:

bore in said upper bulkhead, a suction chamber formed in said valve plate in, communication with the cylinder formed by said cylinder liner, and circumferentially disposed ports in said flange to provide communication between said suction manifold and said suction valve chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent,

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,405,4031 Everett Feb. 7', 1922i 1,417,690 Riesner May 30, 1922; 1,688,890- Spreen Oct. 23, 1928 1,927,497 Hunaeus Sept. 19, 1933: 1,967,385 Replogle- July 24, 193.4 2,113,691 Heller Apr. 12, 193,8. 2,578,139 Jones Dec. 11,v 195,11,

FOREIGN PATENTS 12,740 Great Britain June 20, 1905 916,245 Germany Aug. 5,, 1954 

